Mike Huckabee Blasts Elitism In Laura Ingraham Interview (AUDIO)

Former Arkansas governor and potential 2012 GOP contender Mike Huckabee spoke out bitterly Wednesday against what he perceives as elitism in the process of selecting a party's presidential nominee.

"I've never been one that was on their radar screen because I grew up in a small Southern town, a very tiny little town. I didn't go to the right schools, I went to small Christian university, but I would take my education and put it up against anybody's. Every time I've had an opponent from Harvard, I feel like I've bested him in a debate," Huckabee told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

"This whole idea that somehow I'm not capable," he continued, "because I grew up duck hunting and deer hunting as opposed to maybe riding on the side of the saddle -- I'm sorry, but I feel like I represent a real part of America."

Huckabee then said that he wasn't claiming any sort of superiority, but that he didn't want to be discounted because of his differing circumstances.

"Don't somehow disqualify because I haven't been to Harvard or I didn't somehow grow up in the toniest schools on the East Coast and end up traveling to Europe every summer," Huckabee continued.

It's a similar, albeit much less direct, claim to one made recently by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who responded to former First Lady Barbara Bush's coolness on her presidential ambitions by calling the Bushes -- also during an appearance on the Laura Ingraham radio show -- "blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners."

Both Huckabee and Palin have been consistent in their approach of explaining their critics as elitists who allegedly don't appreciate or respect their more blue-collar avenue to political power. Huckabee defended Palin against a slight by Karl Rove in October, saying that infighting in the GOP was a product of the party's "elitism" and "country club attitudes."

WATCH: